A Knight's Tale
by ardavenport
Summary: A chance encounter two spacer's on the run and two displaced Guardians in Jedha City, leads to the revelation of one spacer's Jedi past.
1. Chapter 1

**A KNIGHTS TALE**

by ardavenport

* * *

 ****** **** Part 1**

* * *

"Here. Over here."

Zon suddenly grabbed Emoh Nedry's arm, guiding her into a quick arc away from the crowded street, whirling her around before she knew what was happening to sit on a bench next to him.

The bench that had only two holy personages sitting on it before now had four.

"Oooop-oop, blaaah."

Zon waved Twos to silence and the astromech parked itself next to the bench.

The other two were Humanoid males wearing black robes with red accents, each with some apparatus slung over their backs. Emoh did not know anything about the dozens (maybe hundreds) of holy orders that inhabited and visited Jedha City, so she said nothing to them as the big one on the far end of the bench leaned over to peer at them around his smaller, slender friend, who remained facing forward. He had no eyes, just two disturbingly blank, white orbs, but the tilt of his head showed that he knew they were there. He had no facial hair and the black hair on his head was cut close. In contrast, his friend's hair was grown out, long and thick and with a graying growth of facial hair. A bulky sonic device hung from a white harness strap slung over the blind man's shoulder and he held a staff, dark carved wood and silver metal.

"Zon - - - "

"Shhhh!"

She shushed. And pulled the stolen orange robe closer over her head and body, hiding any hint of her spacer's blue coveralls that might be showing. The hood of Zon's orange robe hung down so low over his face, Emoh wondered that he could see anything at all in it.

All around them Jedha City, the Holy City, moved on with its business. Streets and dingy stone alleys bustled, full of foot traffic, locals (mostly humanoids like her and Zon, dark hair, pale to brown skin) bundled up in the chill air, many-colored robes and coverings of the multi-species priests, acolytes and pilgrims. The air was alive with their sounds and smells. An occasional droid or lifter transport passed by with the crowds. Jedha was definitely below average for tech.

Emoh was about to demand from her companion where he thought they were going when she froze. Two white-armored Imperial Stormtroopers had appeared at the end of their alley. She tugged the hood of her robe down and faced forward as the troopers systematically worked their way toward them, banging on doors, accosting a food seller and demanding documents from random pedestrians. They were showing people a holo, but Emoh did not look up long enough to see what it was.

Too soon, it was their turn.

"All right, let's see some scandocs." A single trooper demanded. It was not clear which one of the four people on the bench the soldier was addressing; he had planted himself front and center before them.

Zon lifted his head with his usual bright smile and pale gray-blue eyes wide. He held up a hand as if he could do anything against the blaster rifle that the trooper held casually at the ready.

"Oh, our documents are good." Palm empty, Zon mimed handing over an invisible data chit.

The trooper tilted his head toward Zon and his grip on his blaster seemed to go slack, the muzzle pointing more toward the ground.

"These are fine," Zon said cheerfully.

"These are fine," the trooper repeated a bit blankly. The trooper moved on and only seemed to revive when a tall figure completely covered in a red robe with minimal eye-slit openings brushed too close to his comrade. The trooper who had questioned them, seeing the action, came over and the two harassed the offender, who did promptly produce a scan disk, though it did not prevent the troopers from conducting a search. People coming into that end of the alley conspicuously whirled around, finding some other place to go when they saw the stormtroopers.

Eventually, the troopers tossed their victim aside and continued on their way down the alley. One unfortunate mother with babe in arms who opened her door to them had her room invaded for a few minutes before they moved on, children crying in their wake. With the troopers' backs to them, Zon took a hard look at the holo that they were showing to people.

The face glowing over the holo-projector looked like Zon.

Emoh burned to demand what was going on. Was he the reason that the ship was confiscated? And now troopers were looking for the crew who their Captain had inexplicably given liberty to even though they had not planned to stay after delivering their cargo from Coruscant? Captain Kajer had declared more than once that Jedha was a worthless place to pick up work, but the pay for the job was good enough and there were more profitable nearby worlds to go to afterward to justify the trip. Emoh had not planned on going out either, but Zon had insisted, telling her and several others that he had been to Jedha City before and that the street food was much better than ship fare.

With Zon practically dragging them along, the group was sorely disappointed by the limp, greasy noodles and vegetables at the stall just outside the landing dock. But only a few crass insults toward Zon's lack of culinary taste came out before everyone turned to see a phalanx of Imperial Stormtroopers surround the dock entrance that they had just left. They all scattered quickly with Emoh ending up with Zon and the Engineer's astromech.

It did not matter why the Empire was confiscating their ship. Nearly everyone, including Emoh, had some shady business in their background; they all made themselves scarce with an efficiency earned from experience.

Finally, the troopers rounded the corner to the next street and did not return. Next to her, the two holy men looked at them; the blind one facing them, his wide unseeing eyes staring right toward Zon.

'Jedha,' the large broad-shouldered one silently mouthed from the far end of the bench.

'Jedha?' Was Zon from Jedha? Maybe he'd been wanted on Jedha and someone spotted him? But that did not seem to make sense to her. They hadn't been planetside long enough before the troopers descended on them. Even the Empire was not that efficient.

"Zon! What did you do!" She hissed, whirling back to him. He was already up off the bench, clutching his robe over his own coveralls.

"That's a little complicated. Maybe something we can talk about when we're not so out in the open." He pulled her up by the arm and then turned toward the two holy men who had leapt to their feet. "You two should stay h - - -"

The blind one threw himself forward, seizing Zon's upraised hand and practically hanging off of his arm, though it looked like he and Zon were about the same size and build. "No, please, don't send us away!"

"We are Guardians of the Whills. We can help you," the big one half whispered urgently, leaning close.

"Uuuuuuuuuhhh." Zon leaned back a little, pulled the smaller Guardian up and disengaged his arm from him. "I don't think that's likely, buuuuuut . . . ." he leaned toward them, " . . . you wouldn't happen to know where Zakrat Court is, would you? It's been a long time since I've been here."

"Yes," the big one affirmed. "We can take you there."

"Zon - - -?" Emoh was losing patience.

"Aaah!" He stopped her. "I'll tell you everything when we get out of the open. I promise." He took her hand, his eyes wide, entreating her to go along with him, his pale thin hands enfolding her brown one.

Emoh grit her teeth. Zon was weirdly compulsive about keeping his word, an odd trait for someone who worked on a free-trader ship that was not very picky about the legality of the jobs it took. Which was why he did not give out promises very often. She nodded.

"Fewer Stormtroopers on the way, works best for me," Zon instructed. The two Guardians nodded and they formed a group. The blind one led, his sound box in one hand, staff in the other, with Emoh and Twos following and the big one with Zon behind them.

The blind Guardian, whose name was Chirrut Imwe, moved slowly, but most people coming the other way turned aside from his blank eyes and their group cut through the crowd like a wedge slicing through fluid. The other Guardian, who gruffly told them his name was Baze Malbus, warily kept scanning the streets and crowds for trouble. The apparatus that Emoh had noticed slung over their backs turned out to be some kind of bow-blasters and Malbus now carried his before him, casually ready for an attack. They ducked into other passageways whenever they spotted any white armor in the distance.

"How long have you been with your friend?"

"Huh?" Emoh scanned the area before she realized that Chirrut was talking over his shoulder, speaking to her. She walked a little closer to him.

"Uh, just a few years. He's the Engineer's mate on our ship."

"Aaaah, then you do not know his true nature." the blind Guardian stated.

"Ssssh!" Zon hissed from behind them.

Imwe bowed his head in apology.

"What nature?" Emoh kept her voice low as a line of yellow-robed pilgrims passed them single file and they came out from under the shadow on an arch. Chirrut paused before turning left. "He's just the Engineer's mate on our ship. He's not even very good at it."

"Hey. I heard that," Zon objected.

"You told me yourself you didn't know what you were doing when we picked you up on Ambloisi Prime." She turned back to their blind guide. "Wabbi had to show him how to do everything and Captain Kajer only kept him on because he wasn't too stupid to learn, shows up for his shifts on time and doesn't blow his brains out on spice every time we go planetside."

The smaller Guardian nodded. "Then he is a worthy and honorable shipmate."

Emoh sneered, but she could not deny it that Zon was generally cheerful, didn't get into anyone's business and was reasonably hygenic, unlike their engineer, Wabbi.

They finally reached a small courtyard with a square of captive trees in the middle. There was a columned face of a temple with plastoid sheets covering what might have been windows in its wall. A few people huddled in corners, some of them very small and young and warily watched them pass. Jedha City seemed to have a large number of beggars and displaced persons in its streets and alleyways.

"Aaaaaah, this is it!" Zon took the lead. They ducked into a narrow space, littered with scaps and smelly refuse, between two buildings and then around a corner.

It was a dead end, high blank stone walls rising up at least three stories, a rectangle of blue sky too far out of reach above them.

"This is not a good place," Malbus said, looking over his shoulder as if for an ambush and moved closer to his friend.

"Well, the neighborhood is showing some age since the last time I was here, but I think we can still get a good room." Then Zon stood before one blank wall, closed his eyes and raised his hands, palms out toward the weathered stone.

Emoh opened her mouth - - -

\- - - and stopped when the meaty hand of the big Guardian landed on her arm. His expression was not exactly threatening, but his size was enough to be and his eyes serious. Zon decided to wait with them to see what would happen. Twos swiveled its green and silver dome, scanning back and forth between Zon and the trash-strewn alleyway behind them.

Zon drew his hand across the air in front of him, as if drawing a curtain aside.

Gritty stone groaned, blocks in the wall grinding and drawing back. A neat rectangle, a door, appeared as that section of wall withdrew and slid aside.

Zon gave a huge sigh and extended a welcoming arm toward this surprise refuge. "See, I've still got it."

Too shocked to say anything, Emoh went with the Guardians, the droid and her shipmate. The door slid shut behind them and they were momentarily plunged into complete darkness until Twos lit up, bluish-white light beams coming from the front and back sides of its dome. Twos whistled that there were no nearby lifeforms. Emoh pushed the orange hood back off her head and ruffled her thick wiry hair; she had never cared for any kind of head covering or helmet.

"Shhh!" Zon hushed the droid. "Not so loud. We still can't be sure who might be listening." The door closed behind them, the stones sliding back into a wall again.

With a hand gesture, Zon waved them down a corridor to a spiral stone staircase. After slinging his weapon onto his back Malbus led Imwe though the blind man did not have any trouble tapping out the winding stairs that Zon lead them down. It got darker and darker as they went and when they got to the bottom Twos brought the light back when it descended, its white and green cylindrical body held aloft over the stairs on its leg-strut jets. The astromech neatly settled on the stone floor with a muted beep. The door to the stairs slid closed with a whine and a grinding of stone, it disturbingly vanished as the panel became flush to the wall.

Zon led them on down another narrow corridor, his hand dragging on the featureless wall, the other one on Twos dome. The light from the droid cast crazy black shadows whenever it swiveled its dome, but even with a still focused beam forward, it looked like they were walking into endless darkness.

"I did not know this was here. Where are we?" Malbus asked, looking up at the low ceiling, less than a hand width above his head.

"We're heading toward the Temple of the Kyber. I think. My Master and I got the V.I.P. tour when I was here last. Only the abbots and senior Guardians know about this way in."

"They were all killed. When the Empire took our Temple." Imwe told him.

"Oh. Sorry. I didn't know they put a garrison here at all. Believe me, I know how you feel."

Malbus advanced toward him, brushing past Emoh. "Have you come to help us? Reclaim our temple?"

Zon stopped. They all stopped, Imwe's staff clicking on the back of Zon's boots before he pulled it back.

Zon turned, his expression sad, his pale blue-gray eyes bright. "No."

"No?!" Malbus did not like the answer. "Why? Why won't you help us?" Malbus demanded, now looming over the smaller man. "You're a Jedi."

"A Jedi?" Emoh repeated, but the others weren't listening. Twos rapid beeped and swiveled its head.

Zon backed up a pace and raised his hands. "Yeah, guilty. Jedi. That's me. But you're not the only one who's lost a temple here." He spread his arms out and then let them flop to his sides as if in defeat. "That's where I went wrong. I never should have gone to look." Zon went on, talking to himself more than anyone else there. "But we never go all the way in to Coruscant. I don't even know what the job was; it's not like anyone tells Wabbi or me down below what we're doing as long as the engines and hyperdrive keep running. I hope Kajer got paid plenty for that job because she may not get her ship back from the Empire - - - "

"Zon!" Emoh had heard enough rambling. "You promised to tell me what the seven hells is going on when we got under cover. Well, now we're out of sight. So give." Twos bleeped an agreement.

Zon looked like he had forgotten that she and any of the others were there before letting out a long sigh.

"Well, you know Zon isn't my real name."

"Half the crew on our ship doesn't use their real name. Including me." It had been many cycles since Emoh had sold pleasure back on G'Shes and she was not proud of it. She buried her past with years of staying as far away as possible from her home world.

"Who are you then? Your real name?" Imwe held his staff vertically before him with both hands, his empty eyes half closed.

"My name? The one I used before this life? Jahart Stoe-Ahn." His voice dropped. "Jedi Knight."

Both Guardians lowered their heads as if Zon had uttered a prayer, or a blessing.

"The Jedi? The ones who tried to take over the Republic and got shut down by the Empire?"

"That's the Empire's lie," the big Guardian stated. "The Jedi would never have attacked the Republic. They defended it."

"It's not completely a lie." The others stared at Zon.

"They didn't attack the Republic; they tried to kill the Chancellor. And do you know why?" Zon waved his finger toward all of them like a teacher demanding answers from his students. "There is only ONE reason why the Jedi Council would come after the Chancellor with lightsabers blazing."

He paused dramatically, his eyes wide in the droid-light.

"Because Emperor Palpatine is a Sith Lord! The one the whole Jedi Order was looking for ever since they re-emerged when Qui-Gon Jinn got killed on Naboo! He was Right There - - RIGHT THERE - - running everything, rotting the whole Republic from the inside and they didn't see it until after they were fighting a war that the Sith was behind. On both sides! For years!"

Zon had gone into a rant mode that usually only came out when Wabbi sent him up to the bridge to tell Captain Kajer that they could NOT continue unless she actually spent some real money on hyperdrive maintenance at their next port of call. The hood of his stolen robe fell back from his head, his pale eyes wide, his messy graying blond hair making him look a little wild.

The Guardians looked shocked while Emoh was wondering what a 'Sith' was.

"How? How do you know this?" Malbus demanded.

"I looked. In the Force. After the purge." His shoulders fell. "I shouldn't have. I walked away from my oaths to the Jedi, the Force, but when they were just wiped out like that . . . I had to look."

"How did you survive? The purge? When the others were killed by the clones?" Imwe asked softly.

Zon grinned with no mirth. "I was already dead by then. Had been for years. So they weren't looking for me."

He closed his eyes for a moment, calling up an old memory that he did not want to look at.

"The Clone Wars broke out at the Battle of Genosis. Mace Windu took volunteers at the Temple to go rescue Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan after they got capture investigating the Separatists. I didn't think I had anything better to do, so I went." he shrugged sadly. "Ki Adi Mundi's team was supposed to take out the droid control center, but they failed, so it turned into a massacre.

"Worst plan EVER.

"I don't know what Windu was thinking. Maybe he could take on that many battle droids, but not the rest of us. People were getting cut down and dying everywhere and you could _feel_ every one, extinguished in the Force, and that just made it worse.

"A shot went right by my side and I got spun around and face-planted right in the dirt. Lost my lightsaber. And then . . . it like a revelation, as strong as anything I've ever felt in the Force.

His voice went to a loud whisper. " 'Don't get up. Stay down.' "

He shrugged. "So, I stayed down. Droids closing in. Jedi dying. Blaster burn in my side. And I stayed down. Didn't move. A battle droid kicked me aside and I just rolled over back onto my stomach again. So they wouldn't see I was still breathing while Windu, Kenobi and others who were left got surrounded.

"And I just laid there. And listened.

"While Dooku offered to let Windu and the others surrender. Count Dooku, who the Council had been saying - - for years after he left the Jedi Order - - could not have been up to no good while he was openly agitating for systems to split from the Republic.

"Well, you could just FEEL the darkness pouring out of his words when he shouted down at Windu.

"The Jedi Council didn't see that coming either. And everybody was about to die when Master Yoda showed up with a whole Clone Army out of nowhere and picked up Windu and the others.

"And I just lay there while it all happened because I could still feel it in Force." His voice dropped to the loud whisper again. "Stay down."

"The fighting moved out pretty quick, the droids and the clone transports. And the Geonosis all flew off. I lay there for a long time, listening to it in the distance. Things - - big things - - getting blown up. But everything was quiet there. Where it all started.

"And when I finally lifted my head and looked around . . .

"I wasn't alone."

* * *

 ****** **** End Part 1**


	2. Chapter 2

**A KNIGHTS TALE**

by ardavenport

* * *

 ****** **** Part 2**

* * *

The two Guardians seemed transfixed by the tale, so Emoh prompted her shipmate to continue. "What? Who else was there? More droids?"

Zon shook his head. "Jedi. And they'd all felt the same thing I had. Go down and stay down. Play dead."

"Cowards." The larger Guardian finally spoke, anger rising. "You hid. You let other Jedi die so you could escape with your worthless lives. You betrayed the Jedi. You betrayed the Force!"

Zon shrugged, unaffected by the insult. "I can't disagree that we were all glad to be alive. We could see this was the start of a war, and we weren't going to fight it. We weren't going back to the Temple. The only thing we could do was disappear.

"We left our lightsaber behind, hid until a team of clones came to collect the dead and influenced the team leader to put our names on the rolls of the dead - - - it was ridiculously easy, since those clones were bred to follow orders. The dead were cremated that night in the arena - - - Jedi aren't very sentimental about things like that; pay your respects to the fallen and move on.

"Then we went our separate ways. I won't tell you who they were. And even if I knew where they went, I wouldn't tell you that either. It's safer that way."

"Now you're hiding again." Mabus snarled. "I did not know that a Jedi could be such a sath licker. I would never have offered to help anyone like you - - - "

"Baze, peace." Chirrut Imwe held up a restraining hand, but his friend just whirled around as if to storm away, but he did not. None of them knew how to get out of their underground refuge, except Zon.

"Well, that's a big blow, Zon," Emoh said sarcastically. "You ran away from a fight." Emoh was not impressed with Zon's confession or the Guardian's outrage. "That's pretty small diblies on our crew. But what are we going to do now? And why are they suddenly after you now after you've been crewing on our ship for years?"

"It was when we were on Coruscant. I - - I went to go look at the Jedi Temple. I just wanted to know what happened. I grew up there after all. But I should have known there would be someone watching. Even after all this time."

"What did you see?" Imwe asked, his blind eyes wide with curiosity.

"Not much. I didn't get very close. But I could feel it . . . . it's . . . been occupied by a Sith for years now. It's completely defiled." Zon slowly shook his head. "I shouldn't have gone. Curiosity got the better of me."

"Fine. The Empire ruined your childhood home. A Temple on Coruscant. Is that what you meant by having a 'strict religious upbringing' whenever anyone asked where you're from? Well the Empire has ruined a lot of people's homes. What happened when you went to go look at this temple?" Emoh prompted.

"It was a darksider. A Force-user of the Dark Side. Red lightsaber and body armor; I couldn't tell the species, but Humanoid in shape. Whoever it was had too many Stormtroopers for backup. That's how I spotted the trap. But they got a look at me and I spent the next quarter rotation trying to get away from them. Barely made it back to the _Yuritti_ in time."

"Yeah, Kajer was just about ready to leave you behind, except Wabbi came back drunk again."

"And then we went straight here. I didn't even know we were going to Jedha." Zon rolled his eyes. "I stuck my nose back into it and the Force grabbed hold and it's not going to let go."

"I don't care, Zon, unless the Force is telling you how we're going to get out of this."

"The Force is never that helpful." He turned back to where they had been going. "This leads to the Temple of the Kyber, but that's the first place they'd look for a Jedi. That darksider is probably waiting for me to show up there now.

"I'm hoping there's another exit to the street, even out of the city." He pointed toward the long dark corridor. "It know it goes to the Kyber Temple and it goes past that. I've just never been that far."

"Then what? We need to be off this planet, Zon, not hiding out in a wilderness."

"We need to not get caught, first, Emoh. Then work on getting offworld," he answered back.

"There are resistance fighters in the hills. They would take you," Imwe told them, but his fellow Guardian scoffed.

"They won't take him, even if he's supposed to be a Jedi. They fight the Empire."

"I'm not here to fight an Empire." Emoh poked a finger at Zon's chest. "You got me into this mess. You get me out." Twos bleeped an agreement and a blat about their current situation.

He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more. "I tried getting everyone off the ship, but the Imperials moved in faster than I thought they would and then everybody scattered. And if any of those troopers told them they were looking for a Jedi, half of them will be looking for me now for the bounty."

Emoh almost asked how much the reward was, but she kept her mouth shut. She did not want to know. Turning someone she had known for years over to the Imperials felt just too mercenary for her.

"Look, let's just keep going for now, and see if we can find a way out. Okay?"

"Let us out anywhere in the city," Malbus told him.

"No," his blind friend held up a hand to his friend. "I want to help."

"Why? He's a coward. He left the Jedi."

"The Force is still strong with him. Can't you feel it?"

"He will not use it to help us reclaim our Temple. He will leave us, while the Imperials continue to desecrate our holy places!"

"If what he says is true, that the Emperor truly wields the Dark Side, one Jedi will not be able to reclaim the Temple of the Kyber for us."

"If what he says is true," Malbus hissed, "then what good is there in being a Guardian at all." He seized the red and black drape over his robe, ripped it off and threw it to the ground.

"Baze," Chirrut extended a hand to his friend, but the big man stepped back, just out of reach, which seemed to cause the blind man even more distress. "Baze . . . "

"He's useless! And so are we if we think we can drive out the Empire! Is your spirit as blind to the truth as your eyes?"

Malbus's mouth snapped shut, as if he knew that his last insult had gone too far. Imwe's hands gripped his staff hard and he lowered his head.

"I am still a Guardian. I do not know how to be anything else. And even though I may not drive the Empire out, I will still fight them. And I have no better place to fight than from the holy city. But if you need to fight them - -", he paused, his voice cracking, "and I know your will - -", he paused again, taking a few audible breaths, "from another place, I would not stop you."

They continued facing each other for a long moment. Impatient as she was to get away, even Emoh could not break into the confrontation. Malbus stared down at his companion and one fat tear rolled down his cheek.

He finally wiped his face and moved close enough to touch his friend, placing one big hand on Imwe's shoulder. The smaller man immediately reached up to place his hand over it. Malbus's voice was rough when he spoke.

"We can do more damage to the Empire together. Wherever we are."

Imwe smiled his thanks up toward Malbus, his face full of innocent thanks.

"Get us out of here, Jedi. We cannot go anywhere if we stay here," Malbus demanded.

Zon almost jumped. "Oh, ah, yes." He whirled around and pointed at the void in front of them. Twos rapid bleeped, a droid version of a snicker, and its motors moved it forward with Zon. The others followed.

Several steps later, Zon stopped. He looked around, his head jerking in different directions as if catching a scent. Then he turned toward one wall and waved Twos aside. He took a deep breath and raised his hands, palms forwards. This time Emoh silently waited with the Guardians.

When Zon drew one hand over and across the air before him, a door-sized section of wall sank back and ground aside. Twos's light only showed a very small alcove with a round hole in the floor. They all leaned forward, but there was no bottom to be seen. Zon reached under his orange robe and fished out a small metallic bit from a pocket and tossed it in. A few seconds later a loud wet 'plunk' echoed back to them.

A well? None of them knew, but it was not useful. Zon closed the door and moved on.

The corridor led them down a very long set of stairs and another long length of plain claustrophobic stone hallway before Zon stopped again. The next door he opened was another alcove, but this one had a ladder leading down. Even with Twos's light, they could not see the bottom.

"We want to go up, not down, Jedi," Malbus reminded him.

"No argument there. But map this one for us, Twos," Zon told the astromech, "just in case we need it."

They followed the corridor a long way until it made a right turn. A short way past that, Zon stopped again and opened another door.

"Aaaaaaaahhhh," Zon took in a long breath and moved forward into the room beyond. Two's light revealed a high tables and cabinets on either side of the door. They all cautiously went inside.

"Oooooooh, listen to that." With a big smile on his face, Zon turned around in a circle, his arms out as if he basked in warm sunlight. "Music for my soul."

Emoh felt along a wall and found a control panel. To her surprise it buzzed under her fingers and then yellow-white lights came on from ceiling fixtures.

They were in a tidy work room of some kind, or maybe a laboratory. It smelled of dust and disuse, but there was no clutter or damage. They could not tell if it was abandoned or perhaps the only people who knew of it had been executed by the Imperials. The walls were lined with cabinets of equipment, boxes and canisters. Long tools hung in a display along one wall and tall tables with inset computer terminals and controls dominated the center of the room. A layer of dust covered everything and scattered on shelves and on the tables were clear crystals in sizes as small as tsik-peas up to one half as big as Emoh's head and mounted on a shelf high on one wall.

Emoh jumped when she stepped away from the door and it slid shut behind her. But a quick check with a touch on the control pad again confirmed that they could still get out without Zon's magic touch and she let it close again.

Zon still had his arms up with an ecstatic grin on his face as if he had reclaimed a lost love.

"Oooooh, I forgot how I missed this!" He rubbed his hands up and down the sides of his body under his robe as if he was scrubbing himself in bliss. "Aaaaaaaaa!" He paused long enough to notice Emoh's long face. Cylindrical body compact on its two leg struts next to her, Twos blatted like an organic expelling wind.

Zon was undaunted. "Oh, don't you feel it?"

"No, Zon, I don't. All I feel is a huge need to get out of here. Better yet, off the planet and away from the hordes of Stormtroopers who are looking for you."

"I feel it." Imwe spoke with wonder, stepping forward, one hand feeling along the edge of a table. But Malbus just averted his eyes from something he did not want to admit.

His annoying happiness undeterred, Zon just sighed. "Thank you, my new friend. But my old friend, Emoh, here has a point. We need to figure out what to do before the Empire tears this whole city up to find me. So," putting his hand on one table, he nimbly swung his legs up onto it and after making a space for himself sat cross-legged on the cleared surface, "time to think about what to do next."

Dismayed, Emoh gaped at him. "Zon, we don't have time for you to nap - - "

She turned toward the blind Guardian who had silently crept up on her and put a hand on her arm. "Peace. He must meditate on what path we are to follow."

Emoh scoffed. "Meditate? He's not meditating."

One of Zon's blue-gray eyes opened. "What did all of you think I was doing?"

"Wabbi and the rest of us thought you just figured out how to sleep on your shift sitting up. And Wabbi didn't care as long as you still jumped when he called."

Zon just sighed and closed his eye with a mutter about the 'joys of meditating in hyperspace.'

Imwe touched her arm again. "Come. Maybe there is something useful for us here." Still annoyed with her shipmate, she turned away and helped the Guardians search.

Twos found a working power outlet right away and greedily plugged in. There was nothing in the way of food supplies for the rest of them (and Emoh didn't know if she'd trust anything as old as the state of the abandoned lab implied it would be) but there was a basin and spigot. After they let the water run for a few minutes, the stream went from reddish/brown to clear enough to drink.

Malbus prowled the room for weapons and was disappointed to find nothing better than the 'traditional' bow weapons that they already carried though he did fill a small sack with what amounted to 'ammunition' and spare parts for their bows and then slung it over his shoulder with the weapon.

There were tools that Emoh thought that some of her other shipmates (wherever they were hiding) would happily pilfer, but since escape was her highest goal, she did not want to burden herself with anything bulky. There was nothing small and useful to take. Except for the obvious.

The kyber crystals.

The crystals that practically littered the room had to be kybers since there was a huge temple (probably right above them) devoted to their veneration that dominated Jedha City. Emoh blew the dust off an attractive trio on a shelf and raised her hand.

A hand swiftly clamped down on her wrist.

"The kyber is sacred," Imwe told her, his blind eyes aimed somewhere past her right ear. How did he know what she was doing?

She let her hand drop and he simultaneously released her. Kybers were contraband anyway, hard to sell if you did not know the right people. And Emoh did not. And since they stored energy, they were ridiculously easy to spot with a scanner. And even worse, a charged one could look exactly the same as an uncharged one, so you could not be sure if you were carrying something that could potentially discharge and kill you without warning. Unless it was scanned first . . .

Emoh casually looked about and saw at least three devices that would do just that. She moved toward the nearest one, picked up the hand held cylinder and activated the sensor. Blue gleamed off the square end. . . .

. . . and kept getting brighter. She rapidly flicked the switch. OFF-OFF-OFF . . . before she realized that the glow was not coming from the device. It was reflected from the rest of the room.

Looking up, she saw the light shifting to blue . . . no. The illuminators from above were the same warm color. Something else was shining blue-white. And getting brighter. She backed away from the neared table. And then away from the table that she bumped into behind her.

The kybers were glowing. Cool bluish-white now emanated from all of them, little stars of light flaring to life in all the cabinets and shelves around her. The big mounted one on the wall made Emoh wonder if she could make it to the door before it blew. Or would all the crystals just arc out to each other in one huge group discharge? Catching everyone in the room in a deadly mass electrocution? Unfortunately, the quickest way out was blocked by the others.

Chirrut Imwe went to his knees. And Baze Malbus followed.

"Do you feel it?" Imwe asked, his voice husky with wonder.

"I _see_ it," Baze replied, eyes wide.

Emoh quickly pulled her arms in, trying to make herself smaller. The crystals were now floating upward, as if gravity no longer applied to them. Twos's head swiveled back and forth and it whistled. The whole effect might have been magical except for Emoh's fear about a sudden, deadly discharge. She looked toward Zon . . . .

He, still cross-legged, was floating above the table with the crystals.

Something small and bright whizzed past her head and she ducked back away from it. Zon snatched it out of the air.

"Oooooooooh," Zon cooed to his unfolding hand, a bright crystal glowing in his palm. "Look at yoooooou." He made little kissing noises at it, the way he did when one of his 'babies' from the Engineer's toolbox got a fresh battery installed. "Ooooooh, you're so good-looking, aren't you - - - "

He suddenly lifted his other hand to his ear.

"What's that? Do I hear . . . ?" He closed his eyes and straightened. A small light flashed at him from the side and Zon snatched it out of the air like the first one. Opening his palm on his new prize, he inhaled like a kid getting a new present. The light from the little crystal glowed brighter for a second as he brought his nose right up to it for a big sniff.

"Ooooooooh, you're so pretty, too. But what are you doing here? I really suck at two saber combat," he sing-songed to this new 'baby'.

"Eee-eee-eee-eee-eee-eeek!" Zon made little squeaky noises before gasping at whatever his 'baby' was telling him. "What's that you say?" He held the crystal up to one ear.

"Eee-eee-eee-eee-eeek!"

Emoh rolled her eyes; she had seen this act before. Imwe was tilting his head while Malbus turned to look from the man floating in air to Emoh.

She let out a sigh. "He talks to his tools that way on the ship, too." She might have said something to Zon about how talking to inanimate objects just made him look crazy to the Guardians, not amusing or cute. But she was still concerned about a fatal crystal discharge and Zon obviously knew what was going on. This had to be Jedi stuff.

"Eee-eee-eee-eeek - - Eee-eee-eeek!"

Zon opened his eyes wide and held the second crystal up like a proud parent. "Of course! You are sooooo smart!" He made more kissing sounds. Then he lowered both crystals and closed his eyes. The glow in the room faded and Zon and all the crystals slowly descended.

"Hhhhhhhuuuuuuhhhh." He let out a long happy sigh and then held up his two kybers, one in each hand. "Well, it looks like I'm back in the game."

* * *

 ****** **** End Part 2**


	3. Chapter 3

**A KNIGHTS TALE**

by ardavenport

* * *

 ****** **** Part 3**

* * *

The two Guardians climbed to their feet. "You will fight?" Malbus asked with hope.

"Looks like it." Zon shrugged his narrow shoulders. "I'm a Jedi in a workshop full of kyber crystals. When the Force is screaming at you this loud," he shrugged again, "it's time to listen." He held up his crystals, sizing them up. "Now, let's get you two suited up." He carefully lined them up before him, threw his head back and closed his eyes.

"Zon," Emoh demanded. " Aren't we supposed to be trying to get out of here?"

"Patience. I'm working on it." But he just sat there.

"We don't have time for more tricks."

"Hey, Emoh. We can have this fast. Or we can have it good." He used the exact same words that the captain got when she called down to the Engineer when she was impatient about when her ship would be on its way.

"I don't know what 'this' is."

"Just watch." He grinned up at the ceiling. "It's going to look good."

Imwe tapped his cane toward her. "Come." He felt for her hand and his partner guided them toward a bench at the end of a table and they sat together, facing Zon. She couldn't help thinking about how similar this was to when they first met them, except that now she sat between two black-robed Guardians of the Whills.

Nothing happened for a while and Zon remembered what Wabbi said about Zon sleeping sitting up. And she wondered what a 'Whill' was. Another name for kyber?

Something metal rattled. She and Malbus looked back toward a column of drawer inset in the wall. They all rattled again. Then something clinked and clicked on the other side of the room. Something metal glinted under the lights. Black and gray rings. Square and cylindrical components. Parts drifted up from all around them, spinning, drifting slowly toward Zon until he had a whole collection lazily drifting before him. The crystals, faintly glowing again, rose up and joined the crowd. The pieces milled about in no discernable pattern, but gradually they split into two elongated groups, some pieces splitting off and descending down to the table. The floating pieces assumed more organized orbits, circling two definite axes. Cylinders, black, gray and silver, lined up around components, the crystals in their midst. The collections became two long cylinders, the pieces clicking into place until they were two distinct devices, different in colors (one gray black and silver, the other silver with a few parts of faded brass), each with one open end.

Zon opened his eyes and plucked them out of the air. Grinning with his new toys, he jumped up to his feet on top of the table and shrugged the orange robe off his shoulders.

The cylinders got caught in the sleeves.

"Uh, I haven't worn a robe in a while," he guiltily admitted, while he struggled with the uncooperative sleeves.

Finally untangling his cylinders from the fabric, which he kicked aside onto the floor, he held up the cylinders again. Now, he just wore his gray ship coveralls with dark red accents at the cuffs of the arms and legs.

"It's showtime," he announced with a big grin.

Emoh jumped in her seat as two blazingly bright beams of light came out of the cylinders, one pale blue-white, the other, yellow-white. The hum from them was loud with ominous power, filling the whole room. If anyone knew only one thing about Jedi, it was always that they carried lightsabers. Now her annoyingly cheerful shipmate had two of them, casually spinning them around, one in each hand. He swooshed one then the other, their sounds rising and falling with the motion.

"Yah!"

He leaped from one table to the next and literally bounced off the wall and ceiling, his whole body flipping over twice before he hit the floor, still spinning and jumping.

He did not hit anything with the plasma beams of the lightsabers while he did it. Emoh had concluded that they must be more light than heat when Zon brought the blades down on the long narrow table on the other side of the room in one final big flourish.

The table crashed to the floor, cleaved into three large pieces.

Zon brought the two lightsabers around, blades up before clicking them off. He sighed loudly.

"That felt great." Then he shook himself off and came over to him. Both Guardians, even Malbus, stood and bowed deeply to him.

Zon waved off their deference. "We have not gotten out of this yet. I could _feel_ that Darksider that I picked up on Coruscant. It's just a matter of time before he - - I'm pretty sure it's a he - - finds these passages and we don't want him to find us first.

"What shall we do?" Malbus asked, clearly ready to fight his way out. Emoh planned to be behind him and sneak away as soon as possible.

"First, we need something to use as binders, preferably with field binding, too."

No weapons? No comms? Emoh wondered.

The others looked at each other, confused by his request. "Come on. if I can build two lightsabers from the stuff lying around here, we must be able to come up with something." Zon's words spurred them to some action. Even Twos trundled over to a wall, extended its manipulators from their recesses and started opening drawers.

They finally came up with a pair of metal cuffs, fashioned from two spools and locked together. A bit of the cabling that came from one spool tightened them, and a miniature field generator (probably meant to contain a wayward crystal discharge) attached to them made a low-power, but passable blue shield around them when it was turned on.

Malbus looked doubtful of their creation. "Do you think these could really immobilize the Darksider?"

"The Darksider?" Zon looked confused for a moment. "Oh, these aren't for him. They're for me."

The others stared back. Zon pointed at Emoh.

"You are going to turn me to the Imperials for the bounty on a Jedi. And you two," he pointed at the Guardians, "are going to back her up."

Twos blatted and whistled.

"Yeah, you can back her up, too, Twos."

Malbus loudly broke the stunned silence. "What?! You bring us hope and now you take it away and trample on it!"

"Baze - - " His friend took his arm, but Malbus shook him off with a snarl. He stomped around in a couple of circles before advancing on Zon again.

"WHY should we do this?! If you want to die, go to the Imperials and turn yourself in and leave us be!" He angrily waved a big arm toward the door.

"I knew you wouldn't like this part of the plan," Zon muttered. "I was hoping - - - "

"WHAT plan!" Malbus shouted, now standing over the smaller man, who did not move from where he stood.

Fffff-zzzz-zzzzz-ttttt!

Malbus froze, the glowing blade of the blue-white lightsaber a finger-width from his face.

"I knew that would get your attention." Zon flicked off the lightsaber and the smile dropped from his face. He advanced and Malbus backed up.

"We are not going to be able to run. We are not going to be able to hide. Even if we got out of the city, the Imperials would murder everyone to get to me. And I - - " Zon slapped his chest, " - - will not let that happen. The only way we're going to get out of this is to go through them."

Malbus bumped into a table behind him.

"Through them?" Imwe asked, his blind eyes pointed toward the other two. "How? Your friend turns you in? Then what?"

"You," Zon shoved one of the lightsabers at Emoh. She did not want to touch it. "Take it."

She grasped the weapon with both hands as if it was an armed detonator, keeping her fingers away from the activation switch.

"You hand me over to an Imperial Officer and demand the reward. He's not going to believe I'm a Jedi unless you give him that, too, even with that holo of me they got on Coruscant. And you claim the reward." Zon's smile returned. "The bounty on a Jedi is pretty big. You'll be rich."

"I don't want to be rich." Emoh knew that was not true as she spoke the words, but . . . "Not . . . that way at least."

"Well, that's only if you have enough time to collect before we escape. Because I'm keeping this one." He held up the second lightsaber, bent down and tucked it into a short legging under the pant leg of his overalls. It was a little bulky, not hard to guess that something was there, but only if you looked down at his shins. "I use this to get away and do enough damage to slow them down before they re-group - - and before that darksider gets there - - we escape in the ship."

"Aaaaaah." Imwe nodded his approval, but his friend continued to scowl.

"Wait? We take the ship? We _steal_ the ship? What about the Captain? It's her ship. And what about the rest of the crew?"

Zon gave her a big shrug. "We don't have time to find out where they're hiding, if they haven't been already caught. And we'll be doing Kajer and the others a big favor by not getting them involved. Losing a ship is a lot better than ending up in an Imperial prison, or worse."

Emoh glared back at him. "How are we supposed to steal the ship."

"You're the navigator. You can take us anywhere. We've got Twos, it can do the rest, fly the ship. The rest of it is automatic. Right?" said the man who spent most of his time breathing Wabbi's body odor in the engineering compartments while they were in hyperspace.

"It's not that simple."

"Really? It can't be that hard if Ceren can do it."

He had a point. They did not know why Captain Kajer put up with a first mate as lazy and self-congratulatory as Ceren, except that they were sure she wasn't family. Their ship's captain and first mate were not even close to being the same species.

"Well, we can't do much except go somewhere. Twos can pilot, nothing fancy, while I set a course. Maybe Closmat? Or Linget Nine?gf"

Both were unpleasant Outer Rim worlds where their crew had made some shady deliveries and pick-ups. But the Empire did not have a presence there and if they needed, they could sell or trade the ship for something else. Emoh's heart started beating faster, her mind suddenly running through what needed to happen for her to . . . survive. It was worse than when she left G'Shes. Then, she had saved and stolen funds, plotted her escape, for a whole season. This was completely improvised. That morning, she was just a navigator on a ship-for-hire with only vague plans for someday finding a planet that she could make her home.

"That sounds great," Zon agreed, "Let's go then."

"No."

The two shipmates and droid looked toward the Guardians.

"No," Imwe repeated. "We can help you. Lead you back to your ship. We are Guardians of the Whills. Keepers of the Kyber. But you must tell us, what you see in the Force, if we are to help."

Zon winced, but then took a step toward Imwe with a raised hand. "Now you don't have to go, you could just tell us - - -"

Imwe lunged, his staff whirling and smacking into Zon's hand. He pulled it back and shook it.

"Ow!"

"Do not use your power on us. We are Guardians and we can help. But you must tell us, what you see in the Force." Behind him, Malbus stood defiantly and silently backing up his friend's demand.

Rubbing his hand, Zon winced. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Just forget I tried that. But it's got to be quick."

"Tell us," Malbus demanded, standing by his friend.

"There's not much to tell. Darkness. I can't see what's going to happen at all. But I don't think it's going to be good for me . . .

" . . . and now . . . after all this time, it's clear." He looked back at them, eyes wide. Emoh could not read his expression. He was not happy, but not unhappy, maybe . . . satisfied? Relieved?

"That's what the Jedi Order saw. At the end. Darkness. They couldn't see what was coming, but they knew it was bad. And . . . I don't think the Council said anything about it. Kept it secret to themselves," he said softly, his words dredging up truths. "But any Jedi could see the darkness. No future. But they just kept going. What else could they do?"

"They fought the Dark Side," Malbus challenged. "When the war came."

"They shouldn't have fought that war!" Zon suddenly shouted and everyone backed up. "I figured that out years ago! The Chancellor, the Sith Lord we were looking for all along? Count Dooku fallen to the Dark Side, running the Separatists?

"The war was a trap, all along. Get us fighting droid armies. Who cares about using a lightsaber on droids while we're defending clones and Republic planets? But the problem wasn't who was fighting for what, it was the fighting itself.

"They should not have fought the Clone War," Zon muttered, his lips pressed together, breathing hard through his nose. "That's what the Force was telling me back on Geonosis.

f

"I sat it out. I could see the damage. Only a small fraction of the people who get ruined in a war are the ones who are fighting it. Whole populations bombed, blasted and displaced. Planets stripped their resources to build space fleets that blow each other up. But could the Jedi see that? No!" Zon threw his arms out, letting an old frustration out like a pent up explosion.

"The Jedi Order was tied to the Galactic Republic for a thousand years. The temple on Coruscant, outposts, recruiting; every child in the Republic was tested for their affinity with the Force, and brought to the temple for training. The Council probably never even _thought_ about not fighting the Clone War. Because they would have LOST all that! Could you see the Jedi Order begging for alms to support their temple like you guys?" He waved at the Guardians and Malbus sneered back.

"But the Jedi Order had already LOST the Galactic Republic to the Sith years before the Clone Wars even STARTED! And they didn't even know it! They were WORKING for the Sith." Zon shouted at the ceiling, his arms raised. But no one answered. His rage spent, he let his arms drop. "That's what I had to go out and learn after I walked away from Geonosis.

"We were pledged to be peace-keepers, but we still have a whole history of getting into fights." He looked at the Guardians. "Do you get it now? That there are reasons not to fight? And the Jedi didn't see it, not when they needed to."

"Will you fight now?" Malbus demanded.

Zon held up the leg with the second lightsaber concealed under his pant leg; he effortlessly balanced on the other leg.

"I'm in. The one thing I know today is that I'm a Jedi, now. I have to be, to at least draw away the damage from this Jedi fight, keep the Empire from murdering their way through this whole city to find me. So, can we go with the plan now?"

The Guardians nodded. "Yes," Imwe's voice was soft, but determined.

* * *

 ****** **** End Part 3**


	4. Chapter 4

**A KNIGHTS TALE**

by ardavenport

* * *

 ****** **** Part 4**

* * *

"I don't like it," Emoh announced. She was the one who was going to have to walk up to the Imperials and if the Stormtroopers didn't shoot her out of hand, turn in her shipmate. "But . . . I don't a better one." Twos blatted its displeasure, but went with them as they left the workroom.

They went back the way they had come, through the long, long corridors, past the hidden doors and then past the place where they had entered. With a hand gesture, Zon revealed the stairway they had descended so they could confirm where they were in the featureless corridor.

Zon spun around three times and pointed in the direction they had already been going and he set a fast pace. Some of his usual cheerfulness returned, but Emoh trotted on with the others with increasing dread. She wanted her comfortable birth back on the _Yuritti_. It was hardly anything permanent, compared to the unknown she was plunging into, it was practically home.

Not used to this kind of exercise, Zon tried to lean on Twos's dome, but the droid swiveled it, dislodging her attempt.

"Thanks for nothing," she mumbled. The two Guardians, the large one holding his blind friend's hand as they trotted, did not look like they were even breathing hard. And Zon was practically skipping . . . to his death? A man who had nothing to lose? That sounded like something that would make him happy to Emoh. He owned practically nothing, a few tools, spare clothes and grooming implements. He collected no trinkets or mementos from the places they went to, unlike Emoh. Sometime in her distant future, she imagined decorating a planetside cottage with those bits of her life. But even if they escaped, she would have to pick and choose only what she could carry when they left the _Yuritti_ to complete their escape. She would have to completely start over.

Thankfully they did stop a couple of times so Zon could open more doors, concealed in the corridor walls. One was another ladder leading down. Another was an alcove completely filled with a vertical pipe. There was no sound or vibration from it, so it got nothing more than shrugs about what it could be used for before they moved on.

Zon was about to beg for a rest when Zon stopped their group for a third time. There was a stairway leading upward behind this door. They went up.

They found themselves in more featureless stone corridor going in two directions, but Zon quickly found the door leading out. Opening it just a crack, they saw shadowed daylight and a high wall an arm's length away, overgrown with green vines. Zon opened the door just wide enough for Malbus to exit and scout where they were.

"You better lose that robe," Zon told her. Reluctantly, she took out the improvised binders from a hidden pocket and shrugged it off. The stolen orange robe was too big and a trip hazard, but she had been hoping to keep it anyway, just in case she needed to hide again, and it cut out the chill Jedha daylight better than her overalls. But it would look weird for her to be wearing it when she handed Zon over to the Imperials. She was pinning Zon's wrists in front of him when Malbus returned.

"The Imperial depot by the landing docs is two buildings down," he nodded his approval, as if Zon had personally arranged it.

"Hey," Emoh looked up from snapping the second binder in place and activating the field. "Who's going to believe that I caught you? I don't even have a weapon."

Malbus's lip curled in a sneer. His long black hair falling around his face, he reached inside his black robe and brought out a small blaster. After looking Emoh up and down, he correctly estimated her general lack of experience and snicked a control on the side of it.

"Here. Take it. It's safe for you now."

Holding it in her palm, she looked at the small blaster pistol. Why would such a big man, with such big hands carry such a small weapon? Perhaps, since it was so easily concealed, it was a weapon of last resort.

Malbus pointed with his finger. "You point _that_ end at him."

Zon gave her a big, encouraging grin and held up his bound wrists, a faint blue glow around the binders, as if he was posing for a holo. Emoh wanted to tell the condescending Guardian that she was not _that_ ignorant, but there was no point. They had to work together.

"Are you sure you're going to be able to get out of these?" she asked Zon.

Zon grinned back at her. "No problem. That mini-shield on these barely tickles."

Emoh sniffed and looked down at new splotches on the hem of Malbus's robe. Their source became plain when they exited their hiding place. After taking two turns through the space between buildings that was barely wider than Malbus's shoulders, they entered a wider alleyway to confront a huge pile of refuse, spilling out of an overflowing bin. They had to climb over the squishy, smelly mess. Twos whistled its complaints even though the droid could lift itself over the mess on its jets.

The end of the alleyway let out into a throughway of speeders and lifters humming in both directions. The 'walkway' on either side of the street was little more than a ledge, not meant for pedestrians at all. But that did not stop people, walking single file on both sides. The few people they passed, turning their bodies sideways to fit on the ledge without falling into the traffic, hastily looked away when they saw Emoh's blaster, small as it was. People seemed to mind their own business in this town.

The Imperial Depot up ahead was pretty obvious with a gaggle of troopers in front. They alerted when their group approached. With a thrill of terror, Emoh realized that it was her turn to speak.

"You've been looking for this guy. And - - and there's a reward for him. And I want it."

"Yeah, I guess she got me," Zon told the troopers in much too cheerful a voice. Emoh poked him with the deactivated blaster to get him to shut up.

The trooper with the rank shoulder cover looked at his neighbor who just looked back. Another one tilted his helmet at them. The others casually moved to surround their group. Twos whistled its displease.

"Is that him?"

"I don't know. I haven't been on patrol, I just started my shift."

"Where's the holo?

"We gave them all out."

Emoh could not tell which one of them was talking; their armor vocalizers made their voices sound exactly the same to her. Finally one of them went into the outpost to get the officer, a thin, older Humanoid male. The Empire always used Humanoids, the same species as the Emperor, though he was so scarred you would hardly guess it. Supposedly he was maimed by the Jedi during the 'Rebellion' that forced him to reorganize the Republic into an Empire. But Emoh had always heard it called a 'Jedi Purge', not a rebellion.

She handed the spare lightsaber to the officer. "He had this. And I want the reward." He wordlessly sneered back, clearly doubting her, but he jumped back when he touched the activation switch on the device. Fortunately it was not pointing at anyone when the blue-white blade appeared; it vanished as soon as he dropped it. After he got over his panic, he snatched the lightsaber up and ordered his troopers to take them all into custody.

They did not go into the Outpost. They were ushered through a gate and an alley next to it and then into a courtyard behind the Outpost. Emoh recognized the control tower for the landing platforms rising up from behind a back wall. They were very close to the ship.

The officer ran inside the Outpost. Was he going to get the money?

"Ooops," Zon said.

A person in black body armor walked out from the open door. The person had a generally Humanoid body, a little smaller than Zon except for the elongated head, two arms, two legs, round in the torso and black-clad, four-fingered hands like pincers, one of them holding Zon's decoy lightsaber.

"Eeeeeesssh, eee-hashsh-ammm Jeeeh-shai." Emoh only caught every other word, but Zon did not seem to have trouble understanding the newcomer. The voice did sound male, low and hissing and predatory.

"Oh, really, who could see anything in this darkside swill that you and Emperor Sith Lord have made of the Force?"

"Ssshhuu-eesh-yyirri-esh, feh-ha, Jeeeh-shai."

"Oh, here and there," Zon shrugged. "It's a big galaxy. Places to go, things to see."

"Hoosh-ssh-eeesh-aaahamassh? Fesssshs-aah-aam." The armored darksider advanced on them.

"Wouldn't you like to know. But it's nice to know you've been keeping score on all the Jedi you've killed."

"I want the reward."

Zon's foot shot out to the side, hitting Zon's ankle, hard.

The black-armored head tilted. It was slatted armor, the kind that could be withdrawn, baring the face and arms.

"Yeeessh-vvvhess eeeh, Jeeeh-shai" One black arm reached back.

"Ffff-zzzz-ttt! Ssssshhhh-hak!"

Emoh did not even remember jumping back from the sudden, searing heat less than a hand-width from her face. She frantically pushed back and sagged into arms grabbing her from behind and pulling her up.

A bright red beam of light, blocked by Zon's yellow-white lightsaber, emanated from a gray and black device that the armored darksider now held.

The troopers raised their heavy blaster guns but the darksider shouted them down. Some understood the order, lowered their guns and got their companions to back off as well.

"Oh, it's bad enough that one of my own shipmates caught me off-guard and turned me in for a bounty, but, you're not even going to give it to her? Are Jedi sold so cheap now?" They were locked together, blades crossed. The decoy lightsaber lay on the ground where it had fallen.

"Aaaasssh, naaah, naaaash-neeeh-naaah! Naaaah-sssaaah-sass-haaahhh!"

Zon jumped back and swung his lightsaber around. He was always wiry and nimble. In one seedy spaceport he had stopped a thug who tried to rob him. Emoh had not seen it, but her shipmates talked about how fast he was; no one had ever imagined that their jovial Engineer's mate even knew how to fight.

"Oh, I'm really not dead yet."

The darksider whirled to face him. A second red blade slowly extended from the opposite end of the device.

Zon grimaced. "Ooops."

The double red blades whirled into a bright blur.

Zon winced and backed up a pace. "Pretty fancy moves, but I'm still here."

The darksider lunged and Zon ducked under the spinning blade, cutting low with his own. But his opponent jumped high, body and blades, spinning, twisting in mid-air before landing on his feet and lunging at Zon with a forward slab. He deflected the red blade, but just barely, both lightsabers so close to his body that Emoh expected his clothes to start smoking. With the darksider at the deepest part of his lunge, Zon brought his free hand up under the darksider's chin and twisted.

The helmet went flying and the darksider jumped back. Zon was shaking his hand as if he had touched something very unpleasant.

"Ewwww," he scrunched up his face and brought his lightsaber up and started circling. A trooper raised a huge blaster rifle that would have cut Zon's body in half with one bolt and the darksider screamed at the white-armored soldier. The blaster muzzle swiftly went back down again.

"Ugh." Zon wiped his hand on his pantleg. Emoh didn't know the species. Something with gray skin, small wide set eyes, bulging skull and a mass of dripping tentacles hanging down from the bottom of the darksider's face. They were probably sense organs and whatever Zon had pulled must have hurt a lot. He started pacing Zon, Jedi and darksider circling each other.

"Hey," Zon tilted his head, "I know you. . . ."

"Sssseeeeesssh naahhh ffsssaaa!" The tentacles waved forward when the darksider spoke, words fueled by unmistakable anger. Most of them were a translucent yellow-gray, but there were three, together at the front, that were deep red.

"Noooo. That's pretty distinctive." Zon tapped his temple with one finger while keeping his blade pointed toward the darksider. Then he snapped his fingers and pointed. "Master Naah-Chak's padawan!"

"Naaaaahhhh!" the tentacles blew forward in the angry gale of denial that only confirmed Zon's identification.

"So, look at you. All grown up." Zon frowned, his eyes sad. "Sorry to see how you turned out. The Jedi Order really failed you. It would have been better if you'd never been brought to the temple."

"Now, what was your name?" They both continued circling while Zon thought. "Sheesh-sheesh! That was it!"

Another screamed denial and confirmation.

"What? Brother? They give you numbers?" Zon shook his head. "And there is no way that scrawny kid killed Master Naah-Chak before the clones did. Were you captured? Tortured? I don't remember there being much anger in you at all. But now . . . it looks like that's all that's left."

What was left of Padawan Sheesh-sheesh screamed and attacked, red blades whirling. Zon dodged, right-left, up and down, the red plasma beams always missing him. He had always been quick and agile. His yellow blade got one good slash on the darksider's shoulder, but it looked like only the armor was smoking.

Zon slid on the ground, trying to strike from below, but the darksider whirled his blade around. Zon was not hit, but his lightsaber was not so fortunate.

"Ooops," Zon said, frowning at the sparking end of his weapon. The darksider let out a victory scream, standing over Zon. Emoh heard the two Guardians next to her audibly gasp - - -

\- - - The fallen decoy lightsaber suddenly slid on the duracrete ground and shot between the darksider's legs. Into Zon's hand.

At first Emoh did not know what she was seeing. The blue-white blade was coming out of the darksider's back. How? It looked like Zon was holding him up.

The darksider's body slowly slid down, rolling to the ground. The blue-white lightsaber blade went out.

An arm seized Emoh from behind and shoved her to the ground. She barely got her hands up in time to protect her face. Behind her, Twos's metalloid body crashed to the ground as the air over them lit up with blaster fire.

When Emoh peeked up, she saw Zon holding the darksider's weapon, a whirling red circle deflecting the bolts from the Stormtroopers' blasters. Ricochets were flying everywhere. The Stormtroopers started dropping, but the ones left standing kept shooting.

Until none of them were standing, the air rank with ozone, burnt plastoid and flesh.

Next to her, Imwe lifted his head, his eyes and face glad. How could he know?

Then his expression shifted again to worry. And dread.

"Hhhhhhh-hhhhh-hhhhh."

* * *

 ****** **** End Part 4**


	5. Chapter 5

**A KNIGHTS TALE**

by ardavenport

* * *

 ****** **** Part 5**

* * *

An ominous exhale sounded through the courtyard.

Zon shifted to defensive stance. "Oooops."

A towering black figure emerged from the back of the Outpost. Emoh saw glints from a plastoid helmet and a featureless black cape, like space with no stars. Zon stepped back, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

"Ooooooh, you've got a powerful Sith stink on you. I'm guessing that you're the real deal. Not like your little padwan here."

"He was unworthy. He deserved his fate." The voice was male, deep and low, like doom. Emoh shivered.

"Did you tell him that he was so disposable when you signed him up?"

The black figure reached out an arm, hand grasping the air. Zon dove to the side, rolled and threw the double-bladed lightsaber at his new opponent, but another red blade appeared and cut the weapon from the air. The darksiders glowing blades vanished, the pieces clattered to the ground not very far from his body.

"You have some skill. You may take his place."

"Oooh." Zon shook his head. "No way am I signing up for that fight. I never planned on getting into this one."

"Then you will die." The black figure attacked, slashing down, over and over with his red blade. Zon ducked away from the strikes, his body like water. His opponent looked like he was moving in slow motion compared to Zon's nimble dodges, but one final blow connected to Zon's blade and he went flying. He rolled, regaining his feet though he looked unsteady.

"Whoa. You don't move fast but you are one heavy hitter. Vader, is that who you are? The Emperor's top enforcer? People don't even like to speak your name."

"You cannot defeat me." Vader pointed his bright red blade at Zon, who shuffled to the side, his own blade up defensively with both hands, his graying blond hair disheveled. "Even your Master Yoda could not defeat the Emperor. Your only choice is to join the Dark Side."

Zon shook his head. "It's just not in me. And I look terrible in black." He glanced down at the black-armored body between them, his eyes widening. "If your flunkies were once Jedi, then who are you?"

Vader attacked again, the blows coming faster this time. Zon kept side-stepping, but almost got caught when Vader suddenly changed directions. He scored one hit, but only managed to slice off the bottom of Vader's cape. He was all in black, heavy black boots, black body, arms and legs clad in heavy black material. There was a control box hanging off his chest. Was Vader a machine? A cyborg.

When they broke apart again, Zon was breathing hard and limping, with a smoking black mark on the side on one knee. But his pale blue-gray eyes were wide and bright, almost . . . happy? He pointed his saber at Vader.

"I walked away from the Light. The All-Light. Why would I join the All-Dark now?" He actually grinned, his mouth wide with wonder, his words coming faster as he gasped them out. "But the Force doesn't work that way. Balanced. Light and Dark. Right down the middle. But that's not what the Jedi Order was doing. They were the ones who were out of balance. All along. But basking in the Light all the time, they just could not see you coming. And now the whole galaxy is paying for it. With your Empire." He renewed his two-handed grip on his lightsaber.

"You are going down," he announced triumphantly. "You and the Emperor. I can see it now. It just won't be done with lightsabers."

Vader answered with another volley of blows. Zon dodged, but he was clumsy with exertion. The next time he changed direction, the bright red blade evaded Zon's block and connected with his arm, neatly cutting it off. The blue-white blade went out and clattered to the ground. Vader's blade kept going, cleaving Zon's body diagonally. The pieces fell to the ground, next to his hand and wrist.

Emoh saw his face. His dead eyes still wide with wonder, his mouth open in a big grin.

Vader stood over the body for a moment, helmet lowered, that low ominous breathing filling the courtyard. The red lightsaber went out. The helmeted head tilted as he looked at Zon's face.

"Fool."

Emoh did not know what to do. Their chance of escaping in the ship was gone. Next to her, the Guardians were climbing to their feet, Malbus helping Imwe. Emoh pushed herself up and stood with them.

White armored bodies rushed toward them from behind, booted feet running. More Stormtroopers poured out of the back of the Outpost, twice as many as before, some of them stopping to check on their fallen comrades. Imwe and Malbus went back-to-back in defensive postures, the blind Guardian's staff held across his body. Terrified, Emoh saw Vader turn and see them for the first time. He strode toward them. She took a trembling step toward him.

"I want my reward!" she blurted out, now staring up at the plastoid mask, triangular face plate, black, featureless eye plates, worse than any Stormtrooper's threatening stare.

"I caught him! I brought him to you! There's a big reward for bringing in Jedi! And I want it!" she went on expecting at any moment to be skewered by that red plasma beam.

"Reward?" the Imperial officer appeared, striding up to them. "The only reward you'll get you spacer scum is - - -"

"Pay her." Vader's command cut him off.

The office looked dumbfounded. "Pay her? But Lord Vader - - "

"Pay her!"

The officer shut up.

Vader turned toward his subordinate and pointed at his chest with a black gloved hand. "Pay her, Captain. Double the bounty for Jedi. And let it be known in this city that loyalty to the Empire will be rewarded."

The officer backed up fearfully and nodded. "Yes, my Lord. At once, my Lord." He looked at Emoh. "Come with me," he ordered curtly and without waiting for her he marched quickly back to the Outpost.

Emoh turned back to her companions. Twos had righted itself. "Come on!" she hissed, then turned and followed the captain without waiting.

They followed. Vader barely acknowledged that they existed as they passed. But they all paused at the door of the Outpost to look back at Zon's body in the courtyard, and that big happy grin still on his face.

* * *

Emoh Nedry flinched at the holo image of Zon's body being cut in two by Darth Vader. But her guest, seated opposite her at the table by the clear-plas door to the back garden of her cottage, looked, blue eyes wide with wonder. He was young, but far from being a kid, matured too soon by the fight that brought the Empire down.

The holo played on. The group entered the Outpost, the two Guardians together. Malbus's expression smoldered with anger, but he kept a protective arm around his friend's shoulders. Imwe leaned his head on the bigger man's chest, tears running down his face.

She reached over and shut the holo off. There wasn't much more, and she did not need to watch the part where the Imperial officer handed her the money. The money that had paid for her current standard of living. She pushed the projector toward him and he took it.

"Thank-you," Luke Skywalker took it and tucked it into a belt pouch. He was mostly dressed in dark, dusty browns, with black boots and belt and a cape that he kept on even after she invited him in when he showed up at her door. She did not want to know if he was carrying a lightsaber under it. "Thank-you, very much," he breathlessly spoke his gratitude, like she had given him the secret to happiness. He was not that much different than Zon, except younger, and his eyes were real blue, like the sky of an oxygenated atmosphere, his hair thicker and dark blond. And while he could smile, it was serious and solemn, nothing like Zon's big goofy grin.

"What happened to the others?"

"I had to pay Captain Kajer double to get Twos. It wasn't a problem, the reward was huge; I was able to buy my own ship with plenty left over after I left Jedha and I needed an astromech anyway. But Twos was always running its recorder. It was pretty dangerous to have this; you could get arrested for just talking about Jedi back then. But it was the only thing left of Zon. I owed him everything." She looked around at her comfortable though small cottage, filled with the trinkets and art she had collected from many planets. "I kept as far away from the fight, and the Empire as I could . . . " She grit her teeth. Would he think her a coward for not joining the conflict that he had spent years fighting and finally winning? If he did, he did not show it at all, and she had done nothing more or less than what Zon did.

"What about the Guardians?"

"The blind Guardian wouldn't touch any of the reward. The big one took a few chits, a pittance compared to what I got and his friend turned his back on him when he did. But if they lived like monks - - and it looked like they did - - they probably could have lived on it for years. But then Jedha City was destroyed in a mining accident - - - "

"It wasn't a mining accident."

Emoh waited for him to continue.

"The Empire test fired the _Death Star_ on Jedha. Destroyed it all." Luke lowered his eyes, his expression sad. "They destroyed so much." He went silent again, his focus again turned toward thoughts and regrets that she could only guess at.

Emoh's thoughts narrowly centered on her guest, who had legendarily destroyed that _Death Star_. The Rebel Alliance destroyed the second one. Luke Skywalker destroyed the Emperor, and his enforcer, Darth Vader. The remnants of the Empire tried to carry on, but it could not hold together without Palpatine. And most star systems hated the Empire, so it was not hard for the Alliance to gather new allies to finally defeat it. After that, the galaxy was at peace . . . or at least enough of a peace for Emoh to feel safe to pick a planet, make a home.

"I'd like to ask . . . something." Skywalker looked up.

"Zon said that Vader and the Emperor would go down, but it would not be done with a lightsaber. Did you do it? With a lightsaber?" She winced a her phrasing. It sounded a little obscene. But he did not take it that way. He just smiled and shook his head.

"No, I didn't. I threw my lightsaber away. That wasn't what I needed to defeat the emperor." His eyes lowered again and a very subtle smile curled his lips.

How? Emoh wanted to ask. The stories about Palpatine were horrible; he had been a ruthless despot. She could see that there was much more to what he had just said. But she did not think he would share the details; if he had, then everyone would already know about it. And it did not matter; Palpatine and the Empire were gone.

He put his arms on the table, leaning forward on them. "Now, tell me what you can about Zon."

Emoh sat back, worried. "I don't know anything him as a Jedi, except what's on the recorder. Nobody on the ship ever guessed about that."

"That's all right," Luke shrugged. "I just want to know about him. What was he like?" He looked eager to hear whatever she had to say. He had said that he was trying to recover any information he could about the Jedi; if he had been doing that for the past few years, she supposed that was why she had not heard about him doing anything else since the Empire fell. He had explicitly told her that he was not connected to the New Republic when she asked.

"Well," she picked up one of the two glasses of water she had set out. She had also set out a plate of nuts and fresh fruit slices. And if any of her neighbors stopped by to visit, she could introduce them to Luke Skywalker, hero of the Rebel Alliance. It did not look like he would mind. "He was always cheerful . . . " She set down the cup without taking a sip.

" . . . right to the end."

* * *

 ****** **** **** END **** **** ******

* * *

Disclaimer: This story first posted on tf.n on - - - . All characters and the Star Wars universe belong to Disney/Lucasfilm; I am just playing in their sandbox.


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